I had a completely different post to accompany this image. Then my brain decided to stall on what Scott is actually saying here.
"Allowed."
Being with the Champions is not the first time that Scott's been ABLE to relax, no, it's the first time he's been ALLOWED to relax.
I've always thought using Scott in the Champions was a brilliant move, because it allowed us to see a side of the character that we've never seen before. Even beyond what we got in All New X-Men and his solo series.
Scott in ANXM and his solo series was a fun addition to the modern Marvel Universe, but there was nothing really surprising about it. The Scott we see there is the Scott we pretty much expected to see: uptight, tense, very oriented toward responsibility and guilt. It's rougher for him now than the original 60s run because he has to deal with carrying his future self's perceived and actual sins. But it's the same deal. It doesn't really change how we see the original comics.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoy those stories very much. I am a Scott fan after all, and I never get tired of seeing my favorite character being recognizably himself.
But Champions was the first time someone did something honestly and truly different with that version of the character. On multiple levels.
The first, of course, is that we've never seen ANY version of Scott on ANY of the more broad Marvel Universe teams before. Hank and Logan are frequent faces on Avenger teams. Storm, Rogue, even Havok have popped up in the broader Marvel Universe. But for whatever reason, despite being a fairly iconic character in his own right, Scott's never made the leap.
(Kind of like Kitty Pryde, I realize. Kitty is probably THE iconic X-Men for a few generations, and I can't remember her ever getting to be on a non-X team either. Though I may be forgetting something.)
So already, we have Scott in a brand new context: a team that isn't just mutants and mutant issues. A team where he's not automatically set in a leadership role. A team that's not instantly hated wherever they go. It's novel.
But the second part of it is that this is a set-up that only could have worked with the time displaced version of the character. Leaving aside, of course, the current events of the comic which would have made adult Scott joining any kind of Avenger-satellite team impossible - even if they WERE on good terms, the thrust of the story we got in Champions really required Scott to be a child.
Because the revelatory part of Scott in Champions wasn't just seeing him extracted a bit from the burdens of the mutant cause and not shoved into a leadership position. It wasn't even getting to see Scott talking like a forty year old and completely failing at acting like a normal kid. As fun as that is.
The revelatory part is how much Scott sincerely wanted to act like a kid.
Scott doesn't know how to Halloween. And it's tragic and hilarious and utterly expected. But he TRIED. He put on a fake mustache! That's a costume! He WANTED to do Halloween with his friends!
Scott in the 1960s comics kept himself somewhat isolated from the team. And it was clearly a choice: there was no doubt that Jean, Hank, Bobby and Warren were happy to include him any time he was willing and would have been very willing to have him around more.
But in Champions, we actually get to see Scott WILLINGLY and HAPPILY watching tv with his team, sitting in on karaoke with his team, playing laser tag with his team. And he loves it. Even when he has no idea how being a kid actually works.
And THAT recontextualizes everything we've seen in the 1960s comics (and any other time we revisit that era.) Because it's clear now that as much as Scott chose to isolate himself at that time, it's because he felt like he had to. NOT because he wanted to.
Scott might well have been "able" to relax with the Original Five. IF he thought he was "allowed" to be. IF he weren't their leader. IF he weren't put in that position of authority. If, for example, it had been Jean in that role from the beginning - Jean, who is socially capable, emotionally aware, and generally has a good grasp on how to be both one of the senior members of the team when needed, but part of the group and have fun when not - then maybe Scott's original experiences could have been very different.
But Xavier chose Scott, because Scott already had the skill set that Xavier thought was needed for the role. The fact that Scott had those skills because he had no choice BUT to develop them, thanks to a string of abusive authority figures. The fact that Scott DIDN'T have the social skill set to deal with being (further) set apart from his peers, or any idea how to balance the burdens of responsibility with any other aspect of a healthy life. That apparently never occurred to him.
By giving us this new context, Champions completely justifies the entire "bringing the O5 to the future" storyarc and I'm thrilled that it hasn't been forgotten.
And if Xavier ever does deign to come back to Earth after fucking off to be the Prince Consort of the Space Bird Empire, I hope they egg his house.
